Apple has hired on additional engineers in some key areas that hint at the multitouch technology becoming the ubiquitous next-gen interface in most of their products.
First there's the addition of panel engineers outside of the iPhone team whose job it will be to work on larger multitouch surfaces. Then there's what appears to be the formation of a "Mobile Mac" business unit within Apple, and a Manager of Mobile Mac Architecture, which is decidedly aimed at developing a product line of portable computing/communications platforms.
Also is the fact that Apple acquired Fingerworks, a company that developed multitouch interfaces... In order for Apple to justify this acquisition, it has got to be for more than a narrow purpose...e.g. iPhone product line only.
In talking with a former Apple product engineer who was around at the time Jobs returned to Apple, he is very keen on the fact that the iPhone uses an ARM processor. ARM is a joint venture between Apple and other partners which makes designs for processors specifically for mobile communications platforms. The Newton/e-Mate used an ARM processor and was Apple's first, but poorly organized, attempt at getting into the mobile computing/communcations (e.g. PDA) market.
My colleague also pointed out that Apple's product development typically involves the introduction of a "feeler" product (e.g. 1st gen iPod) with a small, focused set of features, designed to elicit feedback from the market on a given concept that Apple's been toying with. iPhone is just that... Multitouch is the concept and they're trying to gauge public reaction to it to help shape how they use it in future products.
After 1st Gen iPod came Nano, and Shuffle, iPod Photo, iPod Video, etc. iPhone is more than likely not the flagship product... but the feeler product, after which both smaller and larger implementations of the multitouch technology will take hold.
I think we're likely to see 3G/HSDPA or even 4G/WiMax-enabled ultra-portables with multitouch technology that lie somewhere between a PDA and a tablet computer in terms of size.
Another suggestion regarding how far Apple wants to go with Multitouch is not only Microsoft's reaction, i.e. to announce their entry into the multitouch game, but also the fact that many of Leopard's design enhancements seem ideally suited for a multitouch input device rather than conventional mouse navigation.
A great example of one feature in particular is Stacks... Stacks is really a resurrection of Piles, a project that began in the early 1990's which outlined the ability to expand stacks of documents to see their contents, be able to select documents in the expanded view, and then have them collapse back into a stack on mouse-off. Piles was specifically targeted at use in mobile computing, e.g. Newton/eMate. However, the Newton project was killed and then Piles laid dormant for more than ten years though patents existed off of which they are now capitalizing.
Piles, Coverflow, Spaces, Time Machine, etc. look EXTREMELY suited for multitouch in which navigation through three dimensions/axes can be extraordinarily intuitive and far easier than with a mouse.
Multitouch is, in my opinion, the mother of "killer apps"... bound to redefine the graphical user interface in the most significant way since the introduction of the Macintosh. Part of the challenge that drives the need for multitouch is the growth of the desktop... when you had maybe 5-6 personal folders, and maybe 100 files, conventional mouse and keyboard navigation were easy... but the mushrooming of this scenario to hundreds of folders and tens of thousands of files is exactly what prompted features like Spotlight.
The current standard user interface is no longer doing the trick for quick and simple navigation through your mess of content. That is where Multitouch can fly... by putting you directly in contact with the content of your desktop, you can navigate through data in three dimensions very quickly, as intuitively as you would move around real objects in real space (thanks to some ingenious little "physics" quirks ... e.g. "rubberbanding", variable scroll momentum dictated by the force and speed of the gesture, etc.) and employ simpler "gesturing" that will execute multiple commands in one intuitive handstroke, instead of a series of clicks and keystrokes... thereby greatly reducing the time it takes you to find what you're looking for. Simpler commands executing more complex instructions = efficiency gain.
Note that insiders say that iPhone's forthcoming file management system will be like Leopard's... with Coverflow and probably Stacks... and even now nowhere to be found is there a single traditional finder with nested folders, a command line prompt, or, most notably... not a single clunky series of nested dropdown menus.
These design factors are not merely an "accident"... they're reworking the whole concept toward a better design.
Furthermore, I think that AppleTV, that thing Steve Jobs calls a "hobby" is a project that while not quite ready for "prime time" is acting as a testbed for some later plans they have...
Back when Jobs came on board, he started the concept of the "digital hub"... First there were applications that turned the computer not into the central focus of your lifestyle, but the digital hub to which other lifestyle devices would connect and find purpose... i.e. iPhoto, iTunes, iDVD, iMovie, etc.
Then iPod was introduced... Apple takes the digital hub one step further by introducing one of the most significant appliances to be part of that ecosystem.
Now iPhone and AppleTV are introducing degrees of technological convergence that take the digital hub concept to new dimensions... the LAN and WAN. AppleTV bridges your LAN with your home entertainment. iPhone bridges you with the world. And it's possible iPhone may even end up having the ability (through mere software updates) to act as a Coverflow Remote, giving you the ability to navigate and control AppleTV and its LAN constituents, and queue up selections for viewing on your home entertainment system via AppleTV.
What is the next step in branching out the digital hub? LAN-WAN interconnectivity. Bridging your home network with you on the go in a more elegant manner than clunky VPN software or SSH, remote access, etc. and doing so without being tethered to 802.11 wi-fi or a landline.
Imagine driving the kids to see Grandma and you forgot to load their favorite movie on our iPhone... no problem. The car's built-in navigation/entertainment console happens to be a Mobile Mac with 4G/WiMax and multiple multitouch interfaces in the dash and headrests... Kids punch up the user-friendly touchscreen in the headrest, it communicates over a wireless carrier to your LAN, talks to some AppleTV-like device on the network which locates the file on whichever computer it might be stored on, and streams the video back to the car.
This is the kind of technological convergence that makes the "computing" part of computers so transparent... the kind of elegance Apple is shooting for... and if I can think of it it's not hard to imagine that their much more intelligent product people are probably already testing prototypes as we speak.
they have been hit and miss but mostly hit recently.
"mostly hit"? Can you name three things that they got right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by wally007
Actually they've done very well lately. Especially with Leopard release when everybody AND APPLE denied reports that Leopard is delayed , digitimes stood by their reports and said October release.
That is only one of two examples that I am aware of that they got anything right, ever. I don't even remember what the other example was.
They were right on the fact and duration of the Leopard delay, but absolutely, totally wrong on the reason. Digitimes said Apple was delaying because of Vista compatibility issues, which turned out to be false because Boot Camp was released a few days later with Vista support, shooting down that reason. Apple eventually acknowledged a delay, but BootCamp was not the likely reason. Apple claimed that it was because they needed a set of key Mac OS X engineers to work on the iPhone so that it ships on time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Louzer
What? Apple doesn't care about sales seasons. That's why they always time their updates to the consumer/education lines to be after all the schools have spent their money (still waiting for that new iMac, probably september). It seems like apple sees it as a gimick, or a sales 'incentive', to put out product in that time frame. They have this ideal their stuff doesn't need a 'reason' to buy it, you'll buy it regardless.
Let's separate the computer and iPod divisions. Their computer division doesn't seem to be very seasonal at all, some ripples, but not much. In contrast, their iPod releases and sales are very seasonal, and for the last three years, they have timed the updates to their iPods to be ahead of the holiday season, which has always been the time of the year when they sell the most by a significant margin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PBG4 Dude
I don't think an iPod will have a Hard drive because it would take too long to boot up. The iPhone takes 5-10 seconds to boot and that's all solid state. It would take much longer on a slow spinning 1.8" HDD.
Even the fast solid state memory is faster, but not _that_ much faster than a 1.8" hard drive. I think it might add a few more seconds, double the time, at most.
"mostly hit"? Can you name three things that they got right?
That is only one of two examples that I am aware of that they got anything right, ever. I don't even remember what the other example was.
They were right on the fact and duration of the Leopard delay, but absolutely, totally wrong on the reason. Digitimes said Apple was delaying because of Vista compatibility issues, which turned out to be false because Boot Camp was released a few days later with Vista support, shooting down that reason.
I tend to agree with Jeff's comments. ("Even a broken clock is right twice a day.")
Having said that,
1. I fully expect an iPod revision by Oct 31 (figured this prior to Digitimes article)
2. the quotes attributed to DigiTimes are not exactly detailed. How much leeway will be given these quotes after the next iPod is released?
Quote:
Apple is preparing to launch a next-generation video iPod in August that features a touch-screen panel similar to the iPhone, according to DigiTimes.
"The company noted that its touch screen panels will be used with customers' own software and ICs."
"Similar" and "the customer's own software" leave a lot of room for interpretation.
I'd say early September is more likely based on past experience... October might be too late - they don't want to release too close to the "holiday season" or they'll have massive stock shortages... September is a good compromise - it gives people enough time to buy them, wave them around to their friends and for their friends to get it on their wish lists
Quote:
Originally Posted by mgkwho
No way- September is iPod month. Mark my words: the 11th the new lineup will arrive based on the previous two years' announcements.
5Gen introduced 12 October 2005
5.5Gen introduced 12 September 2006
1Gen Nano introduced 7 September 2005
2Gen Nano introduced 12 September 2006
September's not a bad guess, but I think that Apple will wait (supposing that the iPod will have a touch interface). This gives more time for the iPhone to be king. As long as the 6Gen iPod is introduced by Black Friday, Apple will hit the Christmas season: that's all that matters. Releasing the 6Gen iPod in September is unimportant, but letting the iPhone have it's time in the limelight is important: you do the math.
Piles, Coverflow, Spaces, Time Machine, etc. look EXTREMELY suited for multitouch in which navigation through three dimensions/axes can be extraordinarily intuitive and far easier than with a mouse.
I just day-dreamt for like 10 minutes about "flicking through time" via multitouch-friendly TimeMachine. Thanks for that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snowdog74
Multitouch is, in my opinion, the mother of "killer apps"... bound to redefine the graphical user interface in the most significant way since the introduction of the Macintosh. [...]
I couldn't agree more. I imagine a more ideal desktop being more like the iPhone's. The current dock/desktop becomes a grid of icon gems. The "Finder" gem will bring you to an iTunes-a-la-iPhone playlist-style list that lets you flick through and browse folders just as you would albums or playlists. Suddenly the iTunesation of the Leopard Finder makes a lot more sense to me...
I'm excited about the future of computing! The landscape is finally changing after 20 years of GUI stagnation.
The best part is that I don't see a future for Microsoft. I can only forsee their touchable GUI being unbearably complicated and cluttered. Good riddance.
The Leopard delay was the only thing they "predicted" correctly. Apple then said IN RESPONSE to the DigiTimes report that it would not be delayed. A week or two later, they retracted that statement and officially announced the October roll-out date for Leopard.
Why would Apple deny the delay if they were just going to confirm it two weeks later? That makes no sense and only makes them look stupid. If Apple had decided concretely that they were going to push back until October they would have said something to the effect of, "We always plan to hit our target dates but occasionally we take more time than previously thought to get our projects perfected. We'll keep you informed if we decide to do this regarding Leopard."
They didn't though. They flat out denied it. That leads me to think that they had no concrete plans to delay. There was no "DigiTimes standing their ground." They may have heard a rumor, bit at it, like they always do, and this time they actually happened to be right.
If you report every rumor you hear, eventually you will be right.
-Clive
They had NO plans to delay it ? No seriously , are you high ? Have you ever even read about what it takes to pull of something as big as Operating System , much less been through it ? Timelines are set months ahead , and are checked on at least once a week to see the status. So this " they didnt know " just doesnt fly.
There's boat load of possible reasons why they didnt confirm the rumor. Now i dont remeber who denied the rumor but if it wasnt Jobs , then it's most likely that THAT person didnt even know.
since the R&D is done, and the cost of components goes down constantly, why not use the same components that you're already manufacturing? what's the total component price of the iPhone in today's dollars? $220?
swap the 8 gigs of flash for an 80 gig HDD and charge $399? [i don't know the component cost for 80gig drives vs. 8gigs of flash...]
Considering that the current iPod with 30 GB is priced the same as an 8 GB nano and the 80 GB is priced at $349, somehow I doubt that a hard drive will drive up the cost of a prospective multi-touch iPod with HDD. Disk storage will cost about 5x, maybe 8x, less than flash storage. Ie, for the cost of 8 GB of flash, Apple can probably get a 40 to 60 GB drive.
The primary reason for no HDD on the iPhone appears to be durability, power consumption, and size. That's a tough decision since even a 30 GB drive is small for an "iPod" video player as capable as the iPhone.
Like in the Future Hardware thread, an iPod with OS-X is going to be a stripped down as possible iPhone, but with an HDD. No cellular radio, no WiFi, and maybe even no Bluetooth. Probably no speaker (both of them), no microphone, and probably no camera. This just makes more room for the HDD and the battery. Apple has to be very careful about having conflicting price points too.
I think the new iPod video will be a full-screen model with switchable Multi-Touch or Click Wheel functionality that will have the same physical length, width and depth of the current iPod 5.5G 80 GB model (this to maintain compatibility with current iPod docks). It will store either 60 GB or 100 GB of data, and will NOT offer WiFi or Internet capabilities.
Apple has hired on additional engineers in some key areas that hint at the multitouch technology becoming the ubiquitous next-gen interface in most of their products.
First there's the addition of panel engineers outside of the iPhone team whose job it will be to work on larger multitouch surfaces. Then there's what appears to be the formation of a "Mobile Mac" business unit within Apple, and a Manager of Mobile Mac Architecture, which is decidedly aimed at developing a product line of portable computing/communications platforms.
Also is the fact that Apple acquired Fingerworks, a company that developed multitouch interfaces... In order for Apple to justify this acquisition, it has got to be for more than a narrow purpose...e.g. iPhone product line only.
Great post! Some recent patents also point in this direction: the multi-touch mouse, and other patents regarding multi-touch features in track-pads.
I see a future iPod with the same "design factor" as the iPhone but with a different objective.
Apple will still have to sell iPods with small screens, for those who are more interested in music (and don't care about the size of the screen).
Since Video is becoming ubiquitous, I envisage a "video iPod" along the "music iPod" line.
A video iPod has to have Wi-Fi, to surf the net where possible, but also to make it flexible for future applications. In particular I would see some sort of "auto-sync" when you come home, or a ".Mac" integration of some sort. And maybe some "social interaction" through Wi-Fi. Examples might be: purchase music on the go (where Wi-Fi is available), iChat and else.
More realistically however, these features will not be implemented because Wi-Fi is so ubiquious that such a device would really cannibalize iPhone sales.
Another thing the new "video iPod" could do is have more apps like the "Nike Plus" application, games, and other things you might want to use on the go.
In my opinion there are several reasons why a new "video iPod" should have Wi-Fi capablities. I just hope that Apple doesn't get too scared by the current increase of people hacking the devices to the point they decide to strip some capabilites just in order to avoid them being used for non intended purposes (the most significant, which btw I think will come as soon as the iPhone has been fully hacked, of which is VoIP).
Touch screen interface seems really the way to go. Think about the fact that the "average" hand has 5 buttons (unlike the mouse). How many combinations could one implement to allow the execution of several tasks in no time? We would have to learn how to interact with computers again, but that is not a problem, since it would all become much more intuitive.
iPod with NAND or with HD?
Why not a combination of both? OSX loads via NAND (instant boot-up), together with the most used apps or the most recently used content (the latest movie I was in the middle of watching before I turned it off) and the rest from the HD.
I'd say that a widescreen/touchscreen iPod is pretty much a given. Put it another way, it's unthinkable that Apple would persist with the existing iPod form factor now that the iPhone is out.
In more detail:
100GB HD
no camera
no GPS
hopefully WiFi
Does the WiFi threaten to cannibalise the iPhone? I don't think so.
Expect to see tight iTunes store integration: Apple just *loves* that little revenue stream...
I'd say that a widescreen/touchscreen iPod is pretty much a given. Put it another way, it's unthinkable that Apple would persist with the existing iPod form factor now that the iPhone is out.
In more detail:
100GB HD
no camera
no GPS
hopefully WiFi
Does the WiFi threaten to cannibalise the iPhone? I don't think so.
Expect to see tight iTunes store integration: Apple just *loves* that little revenue stream...
I agree with you. I think there's a good chance of it having Wifi. I just hope it can wirelessly sync.
Comments
http://www.wintek.com.tw/News_Show.asp?no=0000478
How does any information in that article add up to the headline? Congratulations, AppleInsider, you got your hits for the day.
Welcome to AI...
-Clive
How does any information in that article add up to the headline? Congratulations, AppleInsider, you got your hits for the day.
Welcome to AI...
-Clive
There's nothing at all wrong with AI's headline or article. It cited a Digitimes article that claimed exactly what the headline says.
Apple has hired on additional engineers in some key areas that hint at the multitouch technology becoming the ubiquitous next-gen interface in most of their products.
First there's the addition of panel engineers outside of the iPhone team whose job it will be to work on larger multitouch surfaces. Then there's what appears to be the formation of a "Mobile Mac" business unit within Apple, and a Manager of Mobile Mac Architecture, which is decidedly aimed at developing a product line of portable computing/communications platforms.
Also is the fact that Apple acquired Fingerworks, a company that developed multitouch interfaces... In order for Apple to justify this acquisition, it has got to be for more than a narrow purpose...e.g. iPhone product line only.
In talking with a former Apple product engineer who was around at the time Jobs returned to Apple, he is very keen on the fact that the iPhone uses an ARM processor. ARM is a joint venture between Apple and other partners which makes designs for processors specifically for mobile communications platforms. The Newton/e-Mate used an ARM processor and was Apple's first, but poorly organized, attempt at getting into the mobile computing/communcations (e.g. PDA) market.
My colleague also pointed out that Apple's product development typically involves the introduction of a "feeler" product (e.g. 1st gen iPod) with a small, focused set of features, designed to elicit feedback from the market on a given concept that Apple's been toying with. iPhone is just that... Multitouch is the concept and they're trying to gauge public reaction to it to help shape how they use it in future products.
After 1st Gen iPod came Nano, and Shuffle, iPod Photo, iPod Video, etc. iPhone is more than likely not the flagship product... but the feeler product, after which both smaller and larger implementations of the multitouch technology will take hold.
I think we're likely to see 3G/HSDPA or even 4G/WiMax-enabled ultra-portables with multitouch technology that lie somewhere between a PDA and a tablet computer in terms of size.
Another suggestion regarding how far Apple wants to go with Multitouch is not only Microsoft's reaction, i.e. to announce their entry into the multitouch game, but also the fact that many of Leopard's design enhancements seem ideally suited for a multitouch input device rather than conventional mouse navigation.
A great example of one feature in particular is Stacks... Stacks is really a resurrection of Piles, a project that began in the early 1990's which outlined the ability to expand stacks of documents to see their contents, be able to select documents in the expanded view, and then have them collapse back into a stack on mouse-off. Piles was specifically targeted at use in mobile computing, e.g. Newton/eMate. However, the Newton project was killed and then Piles laid dormant for more than ten years though patents existed off of which they are now capitalizing.
Piles, Coverflow, Spaces, Time Machine, etc. look EXTREMELY suited for multitouch in which navigation through three dimensions/axes can be extraordinarily intuitive and far easier than with a mouse.
Multitouch is, in my opinion, the mother of "killer apps"... bound to redefine the graphical user interface in the most significant way since the introduction of the Macintosh. Part of the challenge that drives the need for multitouch is the growth of the desktop... when you had maybe 5-6 personal folders, and maybe 100 files, conventional mouse and keyboard navigation were easy... but the mushrooming of this scenario to hundreds of folders and tens of thousands of files is exactly what prompted features like Spotlight.
The current standard user interface is no longer doing the trick for quick and simple navigation through your mess of content. That is where Multitouch can fly... by putting you directly in contact with the content of your desktop, you can navigate through data in three dimensions very quickly, as intuitively as you would move around real objects in real space (thanks to some ingenious little "physics" quirks ... e.g. "rubberbanding", variable scroll momentum dictated by the force and speed of the gesture, etc.) and employ simpler "gesturing" that will execute multiple commands in one intuitive handstroke, instead of a series of clicks and keystrokes... thereby greatly reducing the time it takes you to find what you're looking for. Simpler commands executing more complex instructions = efficiency gain.
Note that insiders say that iPhone's forthcoming file management system will be like Leopard's... with Coverflow and probably Stacks... and even now nowhere to be found is there a single traditional finder with nested folders, a command line prompt, or, most notably... not a single clunky series of nested dropdown menus.
These design factors are not merely an "accident"... they're reworking the whole concept toward a better design.
Furthermore, I think that AppleTV, that thing Steve Jobs calls a "hobby" is a project that while not quite ready for "prime time" is acting as a testbed for some later plans they have...
Back when Jobs came on board, he started the concept of the "digital hub"... First there were applications that turned the computer not into the central focus of your lifestyle, but the digital hub to which other lifestyle devices would connect and find purpose... i.e. iPhoto, iTunes, iDVD, iMovie, etc.
Then iPod was introduced... Apple takes the digital hub one step further by introducing one of the most significant appliances to be part of that ecosystem.
Now iPhone and AppleTV are introducing degrees of technological convergence that take the digital hub concept to new dimensions... the LAN and WAN. AppleTV bridges your LAN with your home entertainment. iPhone bridges you with the world. And it's possible iPhone may even end up having the ability (through mere software updates) to act as a Coverflow Remote, giving you the ability to navigate and control AppleTV and its LAN constituents, and queue up selections for viewing on your home entertainment system via AppleTV.
What is the next step in branching out the digital hub? LAN-WAN interconnectivity. Bridging your home network with you on the go in a more elegant manner than clunky VPN software or SSH, remote access, etc. and doing so without being tethered to 802.11 wi-fi or a landline.
Imagine driving the kids to see Grandma and you forgot to load their favorite movie on our iPhone... no problem. The car's built-in navigation/entertainment console happens to be a Mobile Mac with 4G/WiMax and multiple multitouch interfaces in the dash and headrests... Kids punch up the user-friendly touchscreen in the headrest, it communicates over a wireless carrier to your LAN, talks to some AppleTV-like device on the network which locates the file on whichever computer it might be stored on, and streams the video back to the car.
This is the kind of technological convergence that makes the "computing" part of computers so transparent... the kind of elegance Apple is shooting for... and if I can think of it it's not hard to imagine that their much more intelligent product people are probably already testing prototypes as we speak.
AWESOME post. I bow in your general direction.
.
they have been hit and miss but mostly hit recently.
"mostly hit"? Can you name three things that they got right?
Actually they've done very well lately. Especially with Leopard release when everybody AND APPLE denied reports that Leopard is delayed , digitimes stood by their reports and said October release.
That is only one of two examples that I am aware of that they got anything right, ever. I don't even remember what the other example was.
They were right on the fact and duration of the Leopard delay, but absolutely, totally wrong on the reason. Digitimes said Apple was delaying because of Vista compatibility issues, which turned out to be false because Boot Camp was released a few days later with Vista support, shooting down that reason. Apple eventually acknowledged a delay, but BootCamp was not the likely reason. Apple claimed that it was because they needed a set of key Mac OS X engineers to work on the iPhone so that it ships on time.
What? Apple doesn't care about sales seasons. That's why they always time their updates to the consumer/education lines to be after all the schools have spent their money (still waiting for that new iMac, probably september). It seems like apple sees it as a gimick, or a sales 'incentive', to put out product in that time frame. They have this ideal their stuff doesn't need a 'reason' to buy it, you'll buy it regardless.
Let's separate the computer and iPod divisions. Their computer division doesn't seem to be very seasonal at all, some ripples, but not much. In contrast, their iPod releases and sales are very seasonal, and for the last three years, they have timed the updates to their iPods to be ahead of the holiday season, which has always been the time of the year when they sell the most by a significant margin.
I don't think an iPod will have a Hard drive because it would take too long to boot up. The iPhone takes 5-10 seconds to boot and that's all solid state. It would take much longer on a slow spinning 1.8" HDD.
Even the fast solid state memory is faster, but not _that_ much faster than a 1.8" hard drive. I think it might add a few more seconds, double the time, at most.
"mostly hit"? Can you name three things that they got right?
That is only one of two examples that I am aware of that they got anything right, ever. I don't even remember what the other example was.
They were right on the fact and duration of the Leopard delay, but absolutely, totally wrong on the reason. Digitimes said Apple was delaying because of Vista compatibility issues, which turned out to be false because Boot Camp was released a few days later with Vista support, shooting down that reason.
I tend to agree with Jeff's comments. ("Even a broken clock is right twice a day.")
Having said that,
1. I fully expect an iPod revision by Oct 31 (figured this prior to Digitimes article)
2. the quotes attributed to DigiTimes are not exactly detailed. How much leeway will be given these quotes after the next iPod is released?
Apple is preparing to launch a next-generation video iPod in August that features a touch-screen panel similar to the iPhone, according to DigiTimes.
"The company noted that its touch screen panels will be used with customers' own software and ICs."
"Similar" and "the customer's own software" leave a lot of room for interpretation.
I'd say early September is more likely based on past experience... October might be too late - they don't want to release too close to the "holiday season" or they'll have massive stock shortages... September is a good compromise - it gives people enough time to buy them, wave them around to their friends and for their friends to get it on their wish lists
No way- September is iPod month. Mark my words: the 11th the new lineup will arrive based on the previous two years' announcements.
5Gen introduced 12 October 2005
5.5Gen introduced 12 September 2006
1Gen Nano introduced 7 September 2005
2Gen Nano introduced 12 September 2006
September's not a bad guess, but I think that Apple will wait (supposing that the iPod will have a touch interface). This gives more time for the iPhone to be king. As long as the 6Gen iPod is introduced by Black Friday, Apple will hit the Christmas season: that's all that matters. Releasing the 6Gen iPod in September is unimportant, but letting the iPhone have it's time in the limelight is important: you do the math.
Having said that,
1. I fully expect an iPod revision by Oct 31 (figured this prior to Digitimes article)
agreed.
Piles, Coverflow, Spaces, Time Machine, etc. look EXTREMELY suited for multitouch in which navigation through three dimensions/axes can be extraordinarily intuitive and far easier than with a mouse.
I just day-dreamt for like 10 minutes about "flicking through time" via multitouch-friendly TimeMachine. Thanks for that.
Multitouch is, in my opinion, the mother of "killer apps"... bound to redefine the graphical user interface in the most significant way since the introduction of the Macintosh. [...]
I couldn't agree more. I imagine a more ideal desktop being more like the iPhone's. The current dock/desktop becomes a grid of icon gems. The "Finder" gem will bring you to an iTunes-a-la-iPhone playlist-style list that lets you flick through and browse folders just as you would albums or playlists. Suddenly the iTunesation of the Leopard Finder makes a lot more sense to me...
I'm excited about the future of computing! The landscape is finally changing after 20 years of GUI stagnation.
The best part is that I don't see a future for Microsoft. I can only forsee their touchable GUI being unbearably complicated and cluttered. Good riddance.
-Clive
The Leopard delay was the only thing they "predicted" correctly. Apple then said IN RESPONSE to the DigiTimes report that it would not be delayed. A week or two later, they retracted that statement and officially announced the October roll-out date for Leopard.
Why would Apple deny the delay if they were just going to confirm it two weeks later? That makes no sense and only makes them look stupid. If Apple had decided concretely that they were going to push back until October they would have said something to the effect of, "We always plan to hit our target dates but occasionally we take more time than previously thought to get our projects perfected. We'll keep you informed if we decide to do this regarding Leopard."
They didn't though. They flat out denied it. That leads me to think that they had no concrete plans to delay. There was no "DigiTimes standing their ground." They may have heard a rumor, bit at it, like they always do, and this time they actually happened to be right.
If you report every rumor you hear, eventually you will be right.
-Clive
They had NO plans to delay it ? No seriously , are you high ? Have you ever even read about what it takes to pull of something as big as Operating System , much less been through it ? Timelines are set months ahead , and are checked on at least once a week to see the status. So this " they didnt know " just doesnt fly.
There's boat load of possible reasons why they didnt confirm the rumor. Now i dont remeber who denied the rumor but if it wasnt Jobs , then it's most likely that THAT person didnt even know.
since the R&D is done, and the cost of components goes down constantly, why not use the same components that you're already manufacturing? what's the total component price of the iPhone in today's dollars? $220?
swap the 8 gigs of flash for an 80 gig HDD and charge $399? [i don't know the component cost for 80gig drives vs. 8gigs of flash...]
Considering that the current iPod with 30 GB is priced the same as an 8 GB nano and the 80 GB is priced at $349, somehow I doubt that a hard drive will drive up the cost of a prospective multi-touch iPod with HDD. Disk storage will cost about 5x, maybe 8x, less than flash storage. Ie, for the cost of 8 GB of flash, Apple can probably get a 40 to 60 GB drive.
The primary reason for no HDD on the iPhone appears to be durability, power consumption, and size. That's a tough decision since even a 30 GB drive is small for an "iPod" video player as capable as the iPhone.
Like in the Future Hardware thread, an iPod with OS-X is going to be a stripped down as possible iPhone, but with an HDD. No cellular radio, no WiFi, and maybe even no Bluetooth. Probably no speaker (both of them), no microphone, and probably no camera. This just makes more room for the HDD and the battery. Apple has to be very careful about having conflicting price points too.
Apple has hired on additional engineers in some key areas that hint at the multitouch technology becoming the ubiquitous next-gen interface in most of their products.
First there's the addition of panel engineers outside of the iPhone team whose job it will be to work on larger multitouch surfaces. Then there's what appears to be the formation of a "Mobile Mac" business unit within Apple, and a Manager of Mobile Mac Architecture, which is decidedly aimed at developing a product line of portable computing/communications platforms.
Also is the fact that Apple acquired Fingerworks, a company that developed multitouch interfaces... In order for Apple to justify this acquisition, it has got to be for more than a narrow purpose...e.g. iPhone product line only.
Great post! Some recent patents also point in this direction: the multi-touch mouse, and other patents regarding multi-touch features in track-pads.
I am looking foward to a very small full featured computer tablet and maybe a one a little bigger too.
Hopefully it would also act as an eBook Reader with eBooks sold through iTunes.
I see a future iPod with the same "design factor" as the iPhone but with a different objective.
Apple will still have to sell iPods with small screens, for those who are more interested in music (and don't care about the size of the screen).
Since Video is becoming ubiquitous, I envisage a "video iPod" along the "music iPod" line.
A video iPod has to have Wi-Fi, to surf the net where possible, but also to make it flexible for future applications. In particular I would see some sort of "auto-sync" when you come home, or a ".Mac" integration of some sort. And maybe some "social interaction" through Wi-Fi. Examples might be: purchase music on the go (where Wi-Fi is available), iChat and else.
More realistically however, these features will not be implemented because Wi-Fi is so ubiquious that such a device would really cannibalize iPhone sales.
Another thing the new "video iPod" could do is have more apps like the "Nike Plus" application, games, and other things you might want to use on the go.
In my opinion there are several reasons why a new "video iPod" should have Wi-Fi capablities. I just hope that Apple doesn't get too scared by the current increase of people hacking the devices to the point they decide to strip some capabilites just in order to avoid them being used for non intended purposes (the most significant, which btw I think will come as soon as the iPhone has been fully hacked, of which is VoIP).
Touch screen interface seems really the way to go. Think about the fact that the "average" hand has 5 buttons (unlike the mouse). How many combinations could one implement to allow the execution of several tasks in no time? We would have to learn how to interact with computers again, but that is not a problem, since it would all become much more intuitive.
iPod with NAND or with HD?
Why not a combination of both? OSX loads via NAND (instant boot-up), together with the most used apps or the most recently used content (the latest movie I was in the middle of watching before I turned it off) and the rest from the HD.
In more detail:
- 100GB HD
- no camera
- no GPS
- hopefully WiFi
Does the WiFi threaten to cannibalise the iPhone? I don't think so.Expect to see tight iTunes store integration: Apple just *loves* that little revenue stream...
I'd say that a widescreen/touchscreen iPod is pretty much a given. Put it another way, it's unthinkable that Apple would persist with the existing iPod form factor now that the iPhone is out.
In more detail:
- 100GB HD
- no camera
- no GPS
- hopefully WiFi
Does the WiFi threaten to cannibalise the iPhone? I don't think so.Expect to see tight iTunes store integration: Apple just *loves* that little revenue stream...
I agree with you. I think there's a good chance of it having Wifi. I just hope it can wirelessly sync.